Patriots fall to Grissom on Senior Night
seniors Jamarcus Jones, Cortez Nance, Jonathon Oliver, and Trey Callaway Record photo by Lindsay Vaught
The Bob Jones men’s basketball team finished the regular season the same way they started it back on Nov. 13, with a loss to Grissom. The 44-35 loss on Monday night, Feb. 4 puts the Patriots final regular season record at 7-19 on the season.
The team saluted four senior members of the team before the game. All four got honorary starts and the fan favorite, Cortez Nance, hit a three point shot to open the scoring for Bob Jones.
Dalton Barclay came into the game and scored seven straight points to give Bob Jones a brief 12-10 lead. Grissom led 20-16 at the half and widened their lead to 31-23 after three quarters.
Senior Jamarcus Jones has been the floor leader for first year coach Graham Aderholt all season. He led the team with 13 points but like many games this season, not enough of his shots fell to pull victories from losses.
“It’s not what we wanted but we have the area tournament to go and we can still play for some of our goals,” Jones said.
The past two seasons, Jones has played on some of Bob Jones’ best teams. Two years ago, he was on the team that went to the Final Four in Birmingham. Last season he played on the team that had a 23 game winning streak to open the season and was ranked #1 in the state.
This year, Jones started every game and led the team in minutes played as the floor leader. Despite the losing record, this year is the highlight of his career Jones said.
“This year, it’s been great with my teammates. They’ve made it a joy for me playing with them. It’s been a great year playing for Coach Aderholt even though the record is not what we wanted.”
This season was a rebuilding year after all five starters from last season graduated and the one expected returning starter, Travon Landry, transferred to a prep school.
First year Coach Graham Aderholt will build future teams around a core of underclassmen: sophomore Dalton Barclay and juniors Tanner Finley and Ryan Flanigan.
